Thursday, June 30, 2011

This is a picture of my mom during the 70's. At the time she had long hair and an interest in photography. (My dad, who was also into photography at the time, snapped this picture of her.) This is my favorite picture of her and I stole took this picture from my parent's house for safe keeping. The photo is very sun faded and I fixed it up a bit in Photoshop. The finished product is nowhere near its original condition, but at least you can see the leather handbag and the color of her polyester western-style shirt.

I was really excited when my mom told me she'd be visiting next weekend. It would be her first time visiting me since I graduated from Cal! (That's 5 years!) I thought about all the things we could do: pick fruit in Watsonville, go to the beach, visit the SF Renegade Craft Fair, stop by my new apartment, walk about. Unfortunately, she had to cancel the trip. Obviously, I'm disappointed, but I know there will be future opportunities.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Had a long and lovely bike ride through Santa Cruz. I still don't feel completely confident to go out on my own so I always go with Albert and follow his lead, but I'm slowly gaining confidence. For this ride we went through the lagoon, the pier, the Boardwalk, West Cliff, and back home.

Saw a family of ducks at the lagoon. The ducklings stayed very close to their mom!

Goats, see? Nature's lawn mowers. I've always heard of people using goats to decimate excess vegetation, but this is the first I've seen it in real life.

Albert and I couldn't resist playing a bit at the playground (even though adults over the age of 12 aren't allowed to be there without children). There were two see-saws...

Albert got greedy and tried to play on both.

A merry-go-round thingy? (What do you call these?) The most hardcore facial expressions are to be had on this playground contraption.

Or befuddled expressions.

Shot from the pier.

This is me looking nervous because I was afraid that Albert would drop my phone into the ocean.

Another shot of the sunset from the pier. I like how the shops along the pier are lit up.

Popsicles in a variety of flavors! (From top left to bottom right: Pico de Gallo, Guava, Esquimal (no idea what this is), Cookies and Cream, Chocolate, Pecan, Eggnog, and Changunga.) Cost-$5 (Albert and I also ate 2 Cookies and Cream bars in addition to the above. I love me some Cookies and Cream bars!)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

I'm taking today and tomorrow off to use up my "Professional Development Days." I started today by making another zippered pouch using vintage French ticking fabric scraps that I purchased from the Alameda Antique Fair. For contrast, I added a buttercup yellow zipper and yellow patterned lining. I used this tutorial again and wanted to share a tip. In making my previous zippered pouch, I noticed that my sewn line along the zipper wasn't straight. This is because the zipper I used has a bulky metal pull, which makes it difficult for the sewing machine to get real close to the zipper teeth. So what I did was essentially move the zipper away from the needle at the time of sewing.

Here's the fabric pinned to the zipper.

And here's what it looks like underneath. I position the zipper pull so that it's about 60% of the way down from where I will start sewing.

Start sewing and stop just before reaching the zipper pull.

Leave the needle in the fabric, release the presser foot, and reach under the top layer and reposition the zipper foot. Here it is in the original position.

And here it is in the moved position. I moved the pull to an area that I already sewed so that it won't get in my way when I get to the end.

Finish sewing and marvel at the straight lines next to the zipper. Nice and even! Now just finish up the rest according to the tutorial.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Check out this gorgeous beet and ricotta ravioli that I purchased from Staff of Life in Santa Cruz. I couldn't possibly pass this up! I made it tonight and added kidney, lima, and garbanzo beans, hand-ripped basil, and shredded comte cheese. Drool...

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Lately, I've been acquiring vintage dresses, mostly from Etsy or other vintage stores I happen to meander into. I find that vintage dresses fit pretty well on me considering my body has gotten more curvy over the years. They say that everyone can fit into a specific decade in terms of clothing fit and styling. I guess I fit with the 1950s-ish for now.

I love green, but subconsciously stopped wearing it when a family member kept complaining about the number of green items I owned and my frequency of wear. Slowly but surely, I will up the number of green items I own again. This dress is one of them. This Liz Clairborne piece was purchased from Etsy.

When I first saw this dress, I knew I had to have it. I love the gradation of the print and the design of the top - no revealing of cleavage! When I first tried it on, I couldn't decided if I liked the length or not. Shortening the dress will balance out it's proportion with respect to my size, but I will lose the pattern detailing at the bottom. No, I don't think I can get rid of the print on the bottom. Purchased from Etsy.

I purchased this from a vintage shop in Santa Cruz. I love the print - it's actually sailboats!

After hearing about this from Albert's sister, Alyssa, we decided to check it out. The fair starts at 6pm and is conveniently located next to Hanger One (but we didn't go drink afterwards). There is an entrance fee and everything sold must be at least 20 years old. Albert and I were hoping to score some furniture, namely a couch, lounge chairs, a coffee table, and maybe some other doodads. Here's a snippet of what we found:

It's been years since I drank 7Up, but I really like the colors. I also like that Ex-Lax poster to the left, but Albert didn't want it. Boo.

This blue chair was purchased by someone else before us. Oh well.

Let me just say that the fair is huge. A little more than halfway through I started getting hungry, which meant I started getting cranky. Thank goodness there were food stands and trucks along the side. Albert and I shared a breakfast burrito, which turned out to be the best breakfast burrito ever! I couldn't stop myself from pouring the homemade salsa into every bite.

Albert appreciates the lab stools. He ended up getting one and will use it when he plays on his keyboard.

Maybe it's a way to hang onto youth, but I love old metal lockers. They're pretty cheap too! I think the trio was priced at $65 or something like that. But I turned them down because I don't know how to incorporate it into my apartment.

$10 owl statue. We got it. Look how serious he looks!

Chalkboard. Again, I like it, but I don't know how to incorporate it into my apartment.

Knoll chair and lamp. Got them both for $75. The chair is now my favorite office chair.

Albert scored this chair and was given a $10 discount on the price!

I think Albert and I were at the fair from 7:30am to about 1pm. We didn't really find what we were originally looking for. There weren't too many affordable couches and we didn't have a large truck to transport anything too big. But we were able to fit two chairs into the backseat of Albert's car. If we go again, we may need to rent a truck.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Made using white miso paste, hondashi, fresh ramen noodles from the local Japanese fish market, sesame oil, sesame seeds, green onions, uzumaki, egg, and La Yu chili oil. Next time I do this, I will cook the noodles separately from the broth.

The cherry tree at Albert's place is bearing fruit! Before heading out to do some furniture hunting, we got distracted with cherry picking and cherry seed spitting. Can't wait for more cherries to get ripe so I can climb that tree and pick them all!